This is the last of the Halloween Carnival volumes. Volume 5 is released on the 31st of October. I hope there’s more next year. This volume seems to have taken a slower, dreamlike quality. It’s like now we’ve reached the pinnacle of Halloween, we’re moving through the horror towards the light.
DEVIL’S NIGHT by Richard Chizmar is a story about a teacher that sees too much one night and how jealousy, that old green eyed monster can make monsters out of all of us.
THE LAST DARE by Lisa Tuttle reminds me of the urban legends we tell as children come to life now we are adults. There is always that one house we tell stories about, that hides horror and mystery behind its walls.
THE HALLOWEEN BLEED by Norman Prentiss is about magic and witchcraft on Halloween night and how there is power in the modern world.
SWING by Kevin Quigley is a love and death story set in LA.
PORK PIE HAT by Peter Straub shows us that everyone has secrets and the stories people tell have more truth than you can know.
5/5 Every story in this collection is well written and perfect for Halloween night. They might not scare the pants off you but they peel back the layers of the horrors of human nature and the nature of secrets. My favourite story was Swing by Kevin Quigley. It was beautiful in a dark way, about love and death. Pork Pie Hat by Peter Straub was a slow starter but persevere because Peter Straub is an excellent writer and I couldn’t put it down.
Thank you to NetGalley for this eArc copy for an honest review.
Happy Halloween and Blessed Samhain to everyone reading this. May the ancestors bless you x
Once Upon The Wytching Hour 